[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Accepting pluralism is hard to do
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 04:31:00 +0100
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060209.E03&irec=2
Accepting pluralism is hard to do
M. Adhiatera, Jakarta
It was with great interest that I read the article by Alpha Amirrachman, which
appeared in this newspaper on Jan. 26, entitled Pesantren Communities Unable to
Accept Pluralism, Tolerance. It mentions that "there is a strong tradition in
Islam of always referring to the texts, rather than to concept first", pointing
to one of the reasons for pesantren's reluctance in accepting the concept of
pluralism.
A similar view is echoed by prominent Muslim scholar Siti Musdah Mulia. She
said that there are some absolute teachings of Islam that cannot be rejected,
but that the rest are subject to debate (ikhtilaf).
However, I observe that this lack of "flexibility in the interpretation of holy
books", or this "strong tradition of always referring to the text, not
concept", is found in many Indonesians from every religion.
When I lived in Europe, I often discussed the Bible with Western Christians.
From these discussions I got the impression that Western Christians are much
more open and critical when discussing the Bible, especially Protestants.
The first conclusion I came to when discussing the Bible with them was that
almost all of them shared the opinion that the Bible was the indisputable
message from God to Man.
The second conclusion, however, was that this message was sent by God and
written by humans, who have limitations and frailties. Thus, the Bible consists
of moral guidance, basic concepts (which come from God) and many folk stories
that are open to debate (because it was written by humans).
The fact that the Bible as a whole consists of many manuscripts, from Genesis
to Revelations, written over a more than 1,000-year period, must be taken into
account.
But some church practices, including the role of women as priests, which is
forbidden by the Catholic church but not by others, is based on interpretations
of the Bible. The Catholic Church bases its policy on the Bible, while churches
that permit women priests also base their policy on the same Bible.
To promote pluralism as discussed by Alpha Amirrachman's article is not an easy
task, especially in a paternalistic and feudalistic culture where the voice of
the elite must be obeyed, and whose voice constitutes the truth.
Pluralism encourages people to embrace each other without too much hierarchy.
Pluralism also encourages openness to talk and discuss things that may be
taboo, and to interpret Holy Books in a manner different from the elite.
Thus, from the viewpoint of some elites, this jeopardizes "the true essence" of
their religion, and this is one of the obstacles to the acceptance of the
concept of pluralism.
Why do I mention this? Because for the Vatican (Catholic Church), formal
acceptance of pluralism is relatively new in its 2000-year history. In 1962,
through Vatican Conciliation II (1962-1965), the Catholic Church formally
accepted and recognized the truth of other religions. Extra Ecclesiam Nulla
Salus is the jargon of the Catholic Church before Vatican Conciliation II.
This happens because there are words of Jesus in the Bible where He says; "I am
the savior and way of life. No one can come to the Father if not through Me.
John 14:6). Hence, the Catholic Church interprets this to mean that if you want
to go to heaven you must be a Christ follower and thus a Christian. Otherwise,
you go to hell.
Without being pessimistic, accepting the concept of pluralism means accepting
the truth in others religion, and this is always extremely difficult.
The writer is a lecturer at Trisakti University.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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